Adam Lallana says Liverpool's performance against Leicester has set the bar for home games

12-09-2016

Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana, who scored his second of the season on Saturday, says the Reds' 4-1 win over Leicester City has set the bar for how they should look to perform on home soil for the rest of the season.

Jürgen Klopp's charges helped lift the curtain on Anfield's new 20,000-seater Main Stand on a sunny Saturday evening, redevelopments allowing the attendance to exceed 50,000 for the first time since 1977.

They despatched of the visiting Premier League champions, Leicester City with consummate ease as all of their attacking talents combined in a devastating display in just their first home game of the campaign.

Midfielder delighted with Reds' attacking play

Reflecting on their performance, Lallana told the club's official website that "collectively as a team" they were "outstanding" and only "let them back in [to the game] with some sloppy play."

He refused to lay the blame at Lucas' feet, insisting it was "no-one's fault" that they invited Leicester back into it and rather that they "probably didn't manage the game as well as we should have" and "gave them a few sniffs."

The England international revealed that similar thoughts were echoed in the changing rooms as Klopp addressed the players in his half-time team talk, but said that they came out in the second-half and were "outstanding again" which allowed them to be "on the front feet" and to get their third and fourth goals "at the right time."

"We've set the tempo for what we want Anfield to be like [for opposing teams] this season," said the attacking midfielder, whose strike was the 100th Liverpool have scored under Klopp in the German's 57th game as manager.

Lallana also noted the difference of playing in front of an expanded crowd, with over 8,500 extra supporters inside the stadium compared to their last L4 clash against Chelsea back in May.

He said that the Liverpool players "definitely felt" how "completely different" it was, insisting that the colossal shadow of the new stand "almost made the pitch feel bigger at times" and ensured it was "definitely noisier."

The Reds' No.20 said they must "use that as a positive" throughout the campaign, as he and his teammates look to maintain a strong home form record.

Lallana hails "world-class" attacking talents at the club

Crucial to any such hopes will surely by Liverpool's scintillating attacking line, whom never gave Claudio Ranieri's usually well-drilled side a moment's rest.

The reigning champions, renowned for being so sturdy and resilient last term, couldn't live with the link-up and combination of goalscorers Mane, Firmino and Lallana as well as Daniel Sturridge.

Lallana said that Liverpool have got "world-class players" in the final third and regardless of which positions the players are playing in, they are "working hard for each other and creating chances" which he says "feels good."

He told Liverpoolfc.com that "everybody was getting chances" with Mane, Firmino, Sturridge and captain Jordan Henderson all involved, saying that the latter had "a good chance" to score at the Kop end in the second-half.

"There was a good feeling as a team," Lallana admitted, which he pinpointed as important if they are to get "some consistency at home."

On his goal, Lallana retained praise for the club's summer signing - Georginio Wijnaldum - who teed him up on the edge of the box for a rasping drive beyond Kasper Schmeichel and into the top corner.

He said that he "caught it sweetly" as he explained: "I though I'd just put my foot through it. It was one of them where as soon as you hit it, you know it is going to go into the back of the net."

He praised Wijnaldum, a £25 million purchase from relegated Newcastle United, as "the type of player that seems to be in the right place at the right time" but suggested that was a matter of skill rather than coincidence and represents the "sign of a good player" as well as showing why "he is playing for this football club."